Formerly the non-partisan watchdog of the 2010 US Census, and currently an opinion blog that covers all things political, media, foreign policy, globalization, and culture…but sometimes returning to its census/demographics roots.

Williamson County sheriff’s officials have charged a Leander attorney with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after they say she fired five shots at a U.S. Census Bureau worker on Saturday, court records show.

Carolyn M. Barnes, 53, could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted of the felony. She was being held in the Williamson County Jail this afternoon with bail set at $50,000.

According to the affidavit, the Census Bureau employee told officials that Barnes pointed a handgun at her when she showed up at Barnes’s home, in the 400 block of Indian Trail in Leander, to collect information.

As the woman tried to get away, Barnes fired the weapon, the document says. It is unclear if she was injured.

Records show Barnes has not hired an attorney. The voice mailbox at her home and law office said they were full.

Barnes was previously arrested Jan. 8 in Austin after officials said she struck a Travis County deputy at the Sweatt Travis County Courthouse.

She was charged with assaulting a public servant, a third-degree felony punishable by up to 20 years behind bars. Those charges are still pending, court records show.

According to an arrest affidavit, when Barnes entered the courthouse at 1000 Guadalupe St. and went through a security screening, deputies found a small knife.

They asked her to return the knife to her car, but she refused, the affidavit said. The document said she struck the officer after she took out her cell phone and the deputy asked her to take the call outside.

The following incident took place in March in Northern Idaho. MyTwoCensus.com believes that this incident should be considered more than a misdemeanor in the eye of the law, as it was directed at a federal employee who was working at the time. CNN commentator Eric Erickson’s heinous words mirror this incident in a strange yet shocking way.

A St. Maries man was cited for firing his shotgun near a U.S. Census worker who was trying to deliver the man his questionnaire in March.

Richard L. Powell, 54, faces up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine for exhibition of a deadly weapon, a misdemeanor offense.

The census worker alleges he was trying to deliver Powell the population-counting questionnaire on the afternoon of March 3, when Powell told the worker to get off his property at 396 Powell Road near St. Maries, according to the Benewah County Prosecutor’s Office.

Powell then went into his residence and returned with a shotgun, and fired the gun in the air, the Benewah County Sheriff’s Office said.

The census worker waited a few days before reporting the alleged crime to the sheriff’s office, and Powell was cited a week after the alleged incident.

Powell did not return a message left by The Press seeking comment Friday.

His pretrial conference is 9 a.m. April 26 at the Benewah County Courthouse.

Though CNN’s sagging ratings over the past year may be reason to encourage its commentators to pull crazy on-air stunts, their commentator Eric Erickson’s recent remarks crossed lines of decency, and perhaps the law on April 1 on WMAC’s In the Morning with Erick Erickson. MyTwoCensus.com has filed an official complaint with the Federal Commerce Commission because Erickson suggested resorting to violence (with a shotgun) to deal with 2010 Census employees who may come to his door. MyTwoCensus is outraged that the government hasn’t taken more steps to openly condemn this matter (other than Obama Press Secretary Robert Gibbs calling the remarks “lunacy”). Additionally, CNN and WMAC must fire Erickson immediately. Otherwise, a boycott of CNN and WMAC is in order.

Here is an audio clip of Erickson’s remarks:

ERICKSON: This is crazy. What gives the Commerce Department the right to ask me how often I flush my toilet? Or about going to work? I’m not filling out this form. I dare them to try and come throw me in jail. I dare them to. Pull out my wife’s shotgun and see how that little ACS twerp likes being scared at the door. They’re not going on my property. They can’t do that. They don’t have the legal right, and yet they’re trying.

The Commerce Department is pushing back against census critics, subtly reminding conservative blogger and CNN contributor Erick Erickson that the workers whom he’s threatened to pull a shotgun on are simply doing required, temporary and important work.

In a statement provided to the Huffington Post, Nicholas Kimball, a spokesman for the Commerce Department — which oversees the 2010 census counting — said that precautions are being made to “protect the safety of both census workers and the public.”

Going through the logistics of the process, Kimball noted that the census workers dispatched to help collect raw data (in the form of a ten-point questionnaire) are usually fellow locals. Taking a small dig at Erickson, without naming names, he added:

So, that means someone knocking on a door in, for example, Macon, Georgia, is likely to be from that community or neighborhood. They’re just someone looking for a little extra work during these difficult economic times – and looking to help fulfill the mission of our Founding Fathers.

Chaffetz said Wednesday he will introduce legislation to marry the U.S. Postal Service temporarily with the Census Bureau so that the postal workers can help with the once-a-decade count of how many people live in America.

“They really have the workforce in place to do this,” Chaffetz said. “They already go to everybody’s door.”

Chaffetz proposes taking a “postal holiday,” so that mail carriers, instead of dropping bills and magazines to your mailbox, would count the number of people in each household. The Postal Service matches up well with the Census needs, Chaffetz argues.

There are 760,000 postal employees, and the Census is anticipating it will need 750,000 temporary workers to conduct the Census next year. Congress is forking out $11 billion to do the count while the Postal Service is looking at a $1 billion revenue shortfall this year.

The Postal Service had no comment on the bill because the legislation had yet to be formally introduced Wednesday and Census officials did not respond Wednesday to a request for comment.

And today, Glenn Beck of FOXNews took up Chaffetz’s cause in an interview, so we’ll soon see if this idea gains any momentum in the near future…

Just as we here at MyTwoCensus.com Headquarters were heading to sleep, the #1 story on CNN became: Redrawing the lines — almost 200 years of gerrymandering. This article discusses the relationship between historical precedents for drawing politically motivated election territory maps and the gerrymandering crisis that America faces today. We wish our fans sweet dreams, and remind you that when we at MyTwoCensus.com we wake up tomorrow, we will continue to fight for our right to have a free, fair, apolitical, accurate Census!